Hatake Sakumo's eyes glistened with tears.
He knelt with his legs folded beneath him, supporting his forehead with both hands as he bowed low.
"Fucheng, I know the Mangekyō Sharingan's eye techniques have always been a closely guarded secret of the Uchiha Clan. This time, I, Hatake Sakumo, owe Clan Head Fucheng—and the Uchiha Clan—a tremendous debt. If there's anything I can do, I won't refuse."
At that moment, it was as if the samurai blood of the Hatake Clan had begun to boil within Hatake Sakumo.
Samurai repaid kindness.
A drop of kindness deserved a spring in return.
Fucheng had asked no questions and sought no reward this time. It was a sign of the great trust he placed in him.
That trust alone brought tears to Hatake Sakumo's eyes!
Fucheng reached out to help him up.
"There's no need to say you owe me anything. When I, Uchiha Fucheng, make a friend, I value Sakumo himself, not his family or any favors."
Fucheng's confident tone and firm gesture gave Hatake Sakumo pause.
He no longer insisted on bowing, but his resolve had only grown stronger.
Fucheng helped Hatake Sakumo to his feet. "As for family cooperation and other trivial matters, we don't need to discuss them now. Let's focus on treatment first. Once we've resolved Lady Hatake's health problems, we can talk about the rest."
Since Uchiha Fucheng would be using his Mangekyō eye technique this time, security couldn't be neglected.
He directly assigned twelve Uchiha jonin to accompany them as guards.
Uchiha Hezi and Yakushi Nonō, who were on the same team as Hatake Jiangyi and happened to be at Fucheng's home, also went along with Misaka Mikoto.
The imposing party of more than twenty people naturally didn't escape the notice of Third Hiruzen Sarutobi and Root leader Shimura Danzō.
While Uchiha Fucheng was still on the road,
intelligence reports from Konoha's Anbu and Root had already poured in to the two men like snowflakes.
"Uchiha Fucheng took a large group of jonin to Hatake Sakumo's house?" Third Sarutobi Hiruzen narrowed his eyes.
"Is it the same as what happened with Tsunade? It seems Hatake Sakumo's wife has gotten worse."
Hiruzen had always hoped Tsunade could cure Hatake Sakumo's seriously ill wife.
After all, winning over Hatake Sakumo, one of Konoha's pillars, was the best choice for the Hokage faction.
He just hadn't expected Tsunade's Medical Ninjutsu to be unable to cure this severe postpartum condition.
The very outcome Hiruzen had least wanted to see had still come to pass!
Fucheng, this newly appointed Uchiha Clan Head, seemed to be especially well-liked by Konoha's powerful shinobi.
It wasn't just Hatake Sakumo. Even Tsunade and Orochimaru spoke highly of him.
Sarutobi puffed on his pipe, a faint worry stirring in his heart.
"It looks like I need to change my strategy. I can't let Shimura Danzō go too far. We should dismantle some of the surveillance he's set up around the Uchiha Clan Compound."
At Root's underground base,
Danzō's thoughts weren't all that different from Third Sarutobi Hiruzen's.
The friendship of Konoha's Hero, the praise of Konoha's princess Tsunade, and the approval of Konoha's genius Orochimaru all made Fucheng, the Uchiha Clan Head who had awakened the Mangekyō, an exceptionally difficult problem.
In the past, he could profit by threatening the Uchiha conservatives.
He could also provoke the Uchiha radicals and stir up internal discord.
He could even use some of the Uchiha who had secretly pledged themselves to him to pass along sensitive information.
But ever since this Uchiha Fucheng had become clan head, everything had changed.
The Uchiha conservatives no longer cowered before him.
The Uchiha radicals no longer exploded at the slightest provocation.
Even the Root agents stationed near the Uchiha Clan Compound had begun to complain that more and more Uchiha jonin were patrolling against surveillance.
Danzō lightly touched the bandages covering his right eye, his thoughts churning.
"Weren't the Uchiha all naive fools like Kagami? How did they end up with such an oddball as Uchiha Fucheng?"
At the Hatake Compound, Hatake Jiangyi shouted excitedly.
"Uncle's back! Uncle brought Lord Uchiha Fucheng!"
Jiangyi, who had been waiting in the yard at Hatake Sakumo's home, spotted Uchiha Fucheng and Sakumo in the distance and ran happily into the house.
He gave his aunt, who was lying in bed, the news.
"Auntie, you'll get better. Lord Fucheng's healing technique is amazing."
After delivering the news, Jiangyi grew excited too. He opened the door and ran outside again to welcome everyone.
The Hatake Clan, once nearly a hundred people strong, was now down to just nine households.
Among the active shinobi, apart from Hatake Sakumo, only Hatake Jiangyi remained—the clan's sole seedling.
Seeing Hatake Jiangyi waiting nervously at the entrance to welcome them, Hatake Sakumo felt deeply ashamed.
The Hatake Clan's gradual decline had a great deal to do with his failure to properly care for its members.
In some ways, Hatake Sakumo was too devoted to procedural justice and fairness.
He was the sort of gentleman who could be deceived by appeals to principle.
Why did all the Hatake men have to undertake the most dangerous wartime missions?
Why couldn't his family, with him as one of Konoha's strongest shinobi, have more say in certain business dealings?
Time and again, some of the village's higher-ups used "righteous principles" to openly bully Hatake Sakumo.
Or rather, they openly bullied the Hatake Clan.
This kind of "stuffy gentleman" who upheld the samurai tradition was exactly the type Konoha's higher-ups liked best.
Sakumo's later suicide was merely a further escalation of the same playbook.
Fucheng took it all in.
He had his own thoughts about it.
Fucheng instructed everyone, "Uchiha Yashiro, take your people and guard the entire compound. Check the surrounding streets and don't let any shinobi enter.
"Members of Mikoto's squad, come inside with Lord Sakumo and me to assist with the treatment."
As the Uchiha shinobi spread out to guard the area, a killing aura settled over the entire compound.
When Uchiha Fucheng and Hatake Sakumo entered the house, Mikoto, Jiangyi, Hezi, and Yakushi Nonō also took up temporary watch at several spots inside.
Fucheng looked at Hatake Daohe's pale, sickly face, then addressed everyone solemnly.
"The eye technique of the Mangekyō Sharingan is different for every person who awakens it.
"Using a Mangekyō Eye Technique also comes at a cost, so I had people guard the area. I also hope everyone will keep the details of today's eye technique to themselves."
Everyone in the room answered in unison, "Yes, Lord Fucheng."
Hatake Sakumo in particular gave off an intensely dangerous aura!
It was as if the slightest unexpected incident would send him charging out to fight to the death.
Fucheng noticed how nervous Hatake Daohe was and gently reassured her. "Lady Hatake, there's no need to worry. My eye technique poses no danger to you. Just relax and lie still."
As soon as he finished speaking, Uchiha Fucheng's eyes transformed into a pinwheel-shaped Mangekyō with lightning-like trails.
[Mangekyō: Okuninushi]
A dense surge of ocular power shone from Fucheng's gaze onto Hatake Daohe.
A faint green chakra, like steam, appeared around Hatake Daohe, who had never been a shinobi.
Along with Fucheng's blue Mangekyō power, it quickly coursed through and regulated Hatake Daohe's body.
From the corner of his eye, Hatake Sakumo saw blood trickling from Uchiha Fucheng's left eye.
Was that the backlash from the special ability?! Hatake Sakumo felt even more ashamed.
Looking again at his wife, Hatake Daohe's skin had become plump, and a faint flush had returned to her previously pale, sickly face.
Even the dark circles caused by her long-term insomnia and nervous exhaustion were visibly fading.
Hatake Sakumo's breathing quickened.
The Mangekyō Sharingan's healing eye technique was incredible!
It was working!
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